


to you, asshole. to you.

by blamethenargless



Category: Raven Cycle - Maggie Stiefvater
Genre: Birthday, Bonfires, Canon Compliant, Dead Noah Czerny, F/M, Fluff, Gangsey, Happy, M/M, Ronan Lynch Loves Adam Parrish, but he's mentioned, henry cheng is extra
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-25
Updated: 2018-08-25
Packaged: 2019-07-02 09:08:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,095
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15793410
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blamethenargless/pseuds/blamethenargless
Summary: “To Richard Campbell Gansey III!” Henry cries, brandishing his beer can proudly. “A prince among men and a man among princes.”orIt's Gansey's birthday, and the gangsey celebrates





	to you, asshole. to you.

**Author's Note:**

> As always, nothing belongs to me.
> 
> Noah. Deserved. Better.

“To Richard Campbell Gansey III!” Henry cries, brandishing his beer can proudly. “A prince among men and a man among princes.”

“And an asshole among us all,” slurs Ronan, running his thumb over Adam’s.

“You’re not making sense, Lynch,” says Blue.

“You’re blurry, Sargent, and short. So shut the fuck up.”

Normally, she would bristle at that, but she’s a little tipsy and definitely drunk on love, so she lets it pass and buries her face in Gansey’s hair with a small smile.

“So,” Adam starts. “Argentina? Zimbabwe? We’ve heard all these ideas, but what’s it gonna be?”

“Ah, my grand honeymoon plan.” Henry smiles and throws the last of his drink down his throat. “I was actually thinking a roadtrip across the country. We can use Pig 2.0, and we can look at trees and shit while exploring places outside of Virginia.”

“You know I like trees,” Blue puts in softly.

“Yes you do, my love! As do I. As does Dick. So what do you say?”  
“I’m down,” she says.

“Me, too,” Gansey adds.

“We can hold down the fort here for a while,” Adam says. “Ronan can dream things. I can scry. I’ve actually been having these visions lately, of some spirit. Monmouth always feels a little empty when I visit. We can try and figure that out.”

“I c’n challenge Kavinsky to a road race. Beat his punk ass.”

Adam sighs. “No, idiot. You can’t.”

“You’re right. Adam’s right,” says Gansey energetically.

“‘S always right,” Ronan says.

The bonfire blazes and the stars shine. The trees whisper in the wind. Sometimes, it sounds almost like words.  _ Laetissimi este.  _ And they are, the five of them. Happy. Missing something, someone, that they don’t know about. That they can’t touch or see or remember. And it hurts in the Noah-shaped hole they don’t know they have. But they’re ignorant. So they’re happy.

It’s a warm Virginia night, and the air feels almost sticky-sweet. Gansey has a small plastic crown set atop his head on a rakish angle, and Henry can’t stop readjusting it, much to Blue’s chagrin. She says the angle on the crown makes Gansey look the most badass he ever could and ever will.

“My birthday,” Gansey mutters. “Never thought I’d make it this far.” He takes a drink from his own can.

“You didn’t,” Blue laughs, and there’s alcohol and honey on her tongue. “You’ve died twice, don’t you remember?”

“Good thing your fate was a one-time deal, Jane. Else I couldn’t do this.” He sweeps her into a kiss, and Ronan makes a show of covering his eyes.

“My raven king,” Blue coos, and Adam scoffs.

“You really are drunk, aren’t you.”

“Perhaps. I could be. It’s my boyfriend’s birthday! He’s alive! I can celebrate that, right? It’s not a crime. You know, honestly, I’m so very happy right now that you’re here, Dick, that I would even shave my legs for you.”

“And th’s how we know you’re wasted, Sargent.”

“Lynch, I’ll stick that same razor up your-” She squeals in protest as Henry wraps his arms around Blue and Gansey, peppering the backs of their heads with kisses, and cutting Blue off before she can finish her sentence. He’s somehow procured another beer from somewhere without anyone seeing, and is trying to awkwardly have it find its way to his mouth without letting go of his girlfriend and boyfriend. He ends up failing, dramatically, and spilling the foamy liquid all over Gansey’s feet.

“Cheng! Those were my best boat shoes!”

“Christ, that I’m dating a boy who says that. I should dump both your asses right now.”

“You love us too much,” Henry sing-songs, and she nods and reaches up to kiss his lips.

“They’re revoltingly cute,” Adam says.

“So ‘re you,” Ronan mumbles, and Adam’s sepia photograph face reddens and breaks into a soft smile.

The world is wide, and full of possibilities. There’s five kids sitting in the woods at night, and they have starbound hearts and ever-growing minds. There’s empty beer cans filling a small trash bag (Ronan almost threw his on the ground, and Adam and Blue went off on a five-minute rant that made the other three boys stare in confusion, admiration, and a touch of love), and marshmallow remnants fleck all of their mouths, and the fire crackles. Sparks fly.

And it’s a strange group. A girl with a heart so guarded it took her boyfriend’s death by her own hand to let anyone in. A broken boy with magic for eyes and nature for hands. A dreamer and a thief who’s a thing that’s not quite human and far too human at the same time. A boy held for ransom and afraid to reach out to those he truly cares about, with a bubbly personality and a steeled soul. And a prince among men, a king among princes, a rich kid with arms wide enough to circle the whole world if he let himself.

They’re missing a ghost, sad and manic, who liked fried chicken and fancy cars and his friends, and who never got the chance to live and who never got the chance to die. Not properly.

“So, Ganseyboy. Adulthood. What are your plans?”

He leans back and sighs. “Hell. If I’m being honest, I don’t know. Travel with you and Blue for a year. Then go to school. And a year ago this time, I would have said study hard and become a politician, but now? I really, truly don’t know.”

“I should have taped that to play back for you when you sober up,” says Blue. “To show the world that you admitted you’re not perfect.”

Gansey smiles and holds Henry’s hand, his other arm still wrapped about the small girl’s shoulders. “Never said I was. But maybe I’ll be a historian. There’s other dead Welsh kings out there, and even if I can’t wake them, I’ll be damned if I don’t give it my best shot.” He flicks his crown diagonally over one ear, catching a wave of hair on his finger and pulling it into a curl in the middle of his forehead as he puts his arm back around Blue.

“To Richard Campbell Gansey III,” Adam says. “Better at everything than everyone forever. Except for Latin.”

Ronan laughs, loud and long. “Amen to that.”

“To Richard Campbell Gansey III,” Gansey says himself. “Who has no idea what the future holds. But who will face it with his boyfriend and his girlfriend and his best friend and Ronan.”

“To you, asshole. To you.”

**Author's Note:**

> Kudos/Comments always appreciated! Thanks for reading!


End file.
